3 Books That Deal With Perinatal Grief
According to statistics, one in three pregnancies ends in loss, and yet it is one of the topics that continues to be socially taboo. Moms and dads going through this need support, listening, and sometimes treatment. As part of this healing, we want to share with you some of the most interesting books that talk about perinatal grief.
Written by psychologists, doctors, therapists, etc., in them people who are going through this situation find not only comfort, but also understanding of the trauma they are going through.
Perinatal grief: a social taboo
The death of the baby during pregnancy, in childbirth, or a few days after birth can put parents through the typical phases of grief. However, they do not always receive the care they need, which leads to other types of problems by not being treated correctly.
What is perinatal grief?
The perinatal period is defined according to different variables. The Euro-Peristat group in its most recent report, establishes that gestational age in weeks is the most reliable measure to establish it.
Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the beginning of the perinatal period at 22 weeks of pregnancy, since it is considered that a baby could already survive extrauterine.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the first trimester abortion rate is approximately 15%, something you can delve into in the studies published on the website dedicated to gestational bereavement, Umamanita, by researcher Paul Cassidy.
In this sense, there is a series of data that we find interesting to share with you:
- The miscarriage rate increases with the age of the mother, being less than 15% under 35 years and more than 50% in women over 40 years.
- More than 80% of abortions occur before 12 weeks.
- The statistics include repeat abortions, that is, when three or more successive abortions or five or more occur non-consecutively.
- In the vast majority of cases (more than 60%) abortions occur due to chromosomal alterations in the embryo.
Books on Perinatal Grief
Surely you agree that information is an important part of the grief process in perinatal loss. Therefore, we have compiled some titles that we are sure will be of great use to you.
The Empty Cradle (Editorial La Esfera de los Libros)
The authors are M. Angels Claramunt, Mónica Álvarez, Rosa Jové and Emilio Santos. They treat the loss from any moment of gestation or during delivery. They do so taking into account different points of view: personal, social, medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic, emotional, spiritual.
In the words of Angels Clarademunt: “ The empty cradle is a book born out of a need. The need to speak, without fear or false myths, about a reality that many couples live for and for which no one is ever prepared: the loss of a baby at some point during pregnancy or childbirth, children without aerial life ”.
The Forgotten Voices (Editorial Ob Stare)
Written by Mónica Álvarez, Angels Claramunt, Laura G. Carrascosa and Cristina Silvente. These women deal with the experience of losing a baby in the first weeks of gestation. They do it with the determination to bring to light a reality that is not very visible and immersed in countless taboos.
This book gives voice, space and time to babies who only lived in the womb; to the mothers, who many times silenced the mourning for the social and cultural silence to which these losses have been subjected; and the parents, who even today almost no one notices them. Phases of grief, fertility problems, recurrence losses, abortion management, full breasts and empty arms, subsequent pregnancies and deliveries… A very complete proposal.
Dying When Life Begins (Red Circle Editorial)
Maria Teresa Pi-Sunyer and Silvia López have written a book designed to accompany parents who experience a loss during pregnancy or in their first days of life. It describes the special characteristics of this grief and the experiences and emotional situations that orphaned parents of their children go through.
The testimonies and writings of parents who have participated in the support groups carried out by the psychologists who have authored it enrich the reading. It is a book that may also interest other parents, family members, and health professionals. In this way, they will be able to become more aware of the needs of these parents and how to help them in their grieving process.
In short, these recommended readings to face a situation of perinatal death will be very useful given the professionalism with which the subject is approached from different areas.
